Malcolm Bannister, Black, in his mid 40’s – Ex Lawyer and Ex Marine – in prison serving 10 year term for a RICO violation. He caught up in big Washington real estate scandal in which he played a very small and unintentional role. He is innocent, but his life is ruined, he is now barred from law practice. His wife – who were very supportive at the beginning of term – now divorced and remarried. His son has a new dad. He lost all his friends. He has no money and no carrier.

This book is purely a fiction – if you are looking for some researched fiction like his other books, than this is not the one. Quoting Grisham’s words from author’s note “Research, hardly a priority, was rarely called upon. Accuracy was not deemed crucial. Long paragraphs of fiction were used to avoid looking up facts.” If you are looking for some well researched legal fiction then – this is not the one. This book is purely entertaining and a real page turner.

When Judge Raymond Fawcett was murdered and his body was found in his remote lakeside cabin. There was no forced entry, no struggle, just two dead bodies: Judge Fawcett and his young secretary. And one large, state-of-the-art, extremely secure safe, opened and emptied. – FBI is clueless about the murder and are in intense pressure from Washington to solve the case as soon as possible. Enter Malcolm Bannister – who knows who murdered Judge Raymond Fawcett and most importantly knows the motive behind the murder.

A Racketeeris A person who engages in dishonest and fraudulent business dealings or A person who commits crimes such as extortion, loansharking, bribery, and obstruction of justice in furtherance of illegal business activities.

Malcolm Bannister who tried everything legally possible to get out of prison without any result, already served five years and has to serve five more years to complete his ten-year sentence now got an ace up his sleeve. He want to cut a deal with FBI in exchange for crucial information about Judge’s murder under Rule 35 – Correcting or Reducing a Sentence.

This book has two different plot lines which revolves around Malcolm Bannister – one – which deals with his time in prison and cutting a deal between him and FBI to get his freedom and second – as a documentary film maker working on project with ex-con and these two stories converge brilliantly at the end and merging perfectly to give excellent end to the book.

What was in the safe? The FBI would love to know. And Malcolm Bannister would love to tell them. But everything has a price—especially information as explosive as the sequence of events that led to Judge Fawcett’s death. And the Racketeer wasn’t born yesterday . .

Nothing is as it seems and everything’s fair game in this wickedly clever new novel from John Grisham, the undisputed master of the legal thriller.

Overall a must read for all John Grisham fans and also for non JG fans, a real page turner, can’t put-down-able book.